Small-town jute trader, he founded and chairs GMR Group, infrastructure player headquartered in Bangalore.

Small-town jute trader, he founded and chairs GMR Group, infrastructure player headquartered in Bangalore. His GMR Infrastructure built a new airport at Hyderabad and is leading the consortium that is modernizing Delhi's airport and constructing a new terminal in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Cancelled $500 million private placement in July following tepid response from investors. A new GMR-built terminal at Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen International airport was opened by Turkey's prime minister in October. Also owns 50% of InterGen, a Dutch utility from which it bought Island Power, a private power producer in Singapore, in May. Plans to build an 800 megawatt power plant.